The Canisius women’s basketball team plays the final game on its non-conference schedule at the University of Vermont on Monday night.

Canisius returns to the court after an eight-day break for final exams.

Canisius and Vermont are meeting for the second consecutive season and for the seventh time in program history.

The Golden Griffins defeated the Catamounts 56-55 last season in the Koessler Athletic Center.

Canisius will return to the court on Saturday, Dec. 21, when the Golden Griffins open their Metro Atlantic Conference play against Quinnipiac. The Bobcats, along with Monmouth, are one of two new league members in the MAAC.

Senior Jamie Ruttle was named to the preseason All-MAAC Third Team. It is the third time in Ruttle’s career that she has been selected to a preseason All-MAAC Team.

Canisius was picked to finish sixth of 11 teams in the MAAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

NOTING THE GRIFFS

Canisius ranks 36th in the country in 3-point field goals per game (7.6).

After Saturday’s games, Canisius ranks sixth in the country with an assist on 71.1 percent of its baskets.

Canisius has shot 40 percent or better in five games this season. The Griffs shot 40 percent or better five times in 31 games during the entire 2012-13 season.

Senior Jamie Ruttle ranks 25th in program history in points (970) and needs 30 points to become the 21st player in program history with 1,000 points.

Senior Jen Morabito Morabito ranks sixth in program history in career 3-pointers (177) and is second in 3-point field goal percentage (37.6).

Senior Jen Lennox is third in the program’s Division I history with 87 blocks.

Sophomore Tiahana Mills is the only player in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference averaging at least eight points, five rebounds and four assists per game.

NOTES FROM THE 61-59 WIN OVER BRYANT ON DEC. 7

Canisius overcame a seven-point second-half deficit and held on for the two-point win over Bryant in the Koessler Athletic Center on Dec. 7.

Canisius held Bryant to a field goal percentage of 26.2, the lowest by a Canisius opponent this season.

Canisius won for the first time this season when trailing at the half.

VERMONT SCOUT

Vermont enters Monday’s game with a 3-5 record. The Catamounts have dropped their last two games after a 63-50 loss at Rhode Island on Saturday.

Vermont has wins over Wagner, UMass-Lowell and North Florida. The Catamounts lost 82-71 to Bryant in the season opener.

Niki Taylor leads the team at 14.3 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per contest. The 6-foot junior forward is shooting 50.6 percent from the floor.

Kristina White leads the team with 18 3-point field goals while shooting 36 percent from behind the arc. The rest of the squad is 25-for-93 (26.9 percent) on 3-pointers.

Vermont is grabbing 6.3 more rebounds per game and has a 37.3 offensive rebounding percentage to go along with a 70.6 defensive rebounding percentage.

Vermont is averaging 22.4 turnovers per contest, turning the ball over on 27.6 percent of its possessions.

Vermont was picked to finish fifth in the nine-team America East Conference.

Lori Gear McBride is in her third season as head coach at Vermont. She was the head coach for five seasons at Colby College and also was an assistant at Charlotte and Boston College. Gear McBride was a member of the 1994 North Carolina women’s basketball team.

NOTES FROM LAST YEAR’S GAME AGAINST VERMONT

Canisius scored 10 straight points in the second half and then held on for a 56-55 win over the Catamounts in the Koessler Athletic Center.

Ashley Durham led Canisius with 12 points while Jamie Ruttle scored 11 points and recorded three blocks. Jen Morabito was 3-for-4 from behind the arc.

The one-point win for the Griffs snapped a five-game losing streak.

Canisius trailed 50-46 with 7:46 and then scored the 10 consecutive points, capped by a breakaway layup from Brooke Angelos, to take a 56-50 lead with 4:27 remaining.

The Griffs wouldn’t score during the rest of the game and had to withstand two shots from Vermont in the final seconds.

Niki Taylor scored 12 points in 32 minutes off the bench for Vermont while Sam Simononis had 13 points in 22 minutes.